Government data showed, on Wednesday, that the fires in the Brazilian Amazon rainforest rose in August to their highest levels since 2010, surpassing the August 2019 fires that drew global attention shortly after President Jair Bolsonaro took office. .
The National Space Research Agency (INPE) has registered 31,513 fire alarms in secThe Amazon was crossed by satellite in the first 30 days of the month, making it the worst August since 2010, when fires totaled 45,018 for the entire month, according to Reuters.
Most Amazon fire alerts come from INPE on average in August and September – considered the region’s burning season, when rains often subside to allow ranchers and farmers to set fires more often in deforested areas.
With one day left, this month’s fires are already 12.3% higher than August 2021 and nearly 20% higher than the average month in the INPE data series since 1998.
The front-runner, former leftist president Luis Inacio Lula da Silva, has pledged tougher protection for the Amazon, and has criticized current right-wing leader Jair Bolsonaro for allowing deforestation in the biome to the highest level in 15 years.
Experts blame Bolsonaro for rolling back environmental protection measures in Brazil, opening the way for loggers and ranchers to illegally clear more Amazon rainforest since taking office in 2019.
Bolsonaro’s office and the environment ministry did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.
Preliminary data showed that deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon in the first seven months of this year totaled nearly seven times the size of New York City – the most during this period in at least six years.
MI